Saturday, November 22, 2008

I PASSED!!!!

I found out yesterday at 6:00 pm that I passed the California Bar Exam. I fell asleep smiling and woke up smiling!

They say that everyone who takes the bar exam has a story. Something that happened or didn't happen that the person will never forget. Mine is a three parter, and I thought I'd share.

A month before the exam. About 4 weeks before the exam, the Bar sends all the applicants their admission ticket. It comes in the mail, is printed on this weird green paper, and is required to be on your person all three days of the exam. The day mine came, I was at the library studying, so my BF put it on my desk with all my other bar papers and study guides. Turns out that Mo, my then very young puppy, decided that day to eat some stuff on my desk, which he had never done before. He absolutely mangled my letter from the Bar. Miraculously, however, the actual admission ticket, with is just one third of a page, was pristine. I have no idea how that happened, and I don't want to know. I'm just very very thankful :)

Two nights before the exam. All the advice I had heard was that you shouldn't study the actual day before the bar. You should just take it easy and be confident in what you've managed to learn/memorize up to that point. So two nights before was my last day of studying. I came home from the library late, and for some reason, when I walked into my apartment, I had what can only now be described as a panic attack, and I started crying uncontrollably. Luckily my BF was there, and he hugged me, and reminded me to breath, and tried to calm me down. I was sure I was going to fail, that I didn't know anything, and that there was absolutely no time to learn anything. He set up the couch for me, brought over some of my study materials, made me a pot of coffee and told me to just keep reading for as long as I needed. He went to bed because he had work the next day, but I sat there until about 3:00 am, just reading. If the BF wasn't enough, my cat Pheona sat right by my side that entire night. I kept accidentally bumping her as I would turn pages - which would usually convince her to go sit somewhere else - but she didn't budge. It was like she wanted to support me however she could. When I went to bed, she slept right by my side, which also didn't happen very often. Animals are amazing, and I'm so thankful she was with me.

Thirty minutes before the exam. I saw on the end of an isle almost smack-dab in the middle of the huge monstrosity commonly known as the Oakland Convention Center. I had all of my "geekery" - a pillow to sit on, a footstool to rest my feet on, insanely too many mechanical pencils, highlighters I would never use, erasers that smelled like fruit (for good measure), and, most important of all, my clock. My BF got me the clock special just for the bar. It had a silver finish that was insanely shiney under all the floresent lights. The proctor for my section - an absolutely lovely older lady - stopped at my row and admired my clock. I explained to her that my boyfriend bought it for my especially for the bar. She placed her hand on my shoulder and said, "Oh honey, you're gonna pass!" I'm very glad she was right :)